We drove up to Johnson City, about 30 miles, named after LBJ's father who donated the land for the town. The Johnson's have lived in the Texas Hill Country for over a century, his grandparents settled there in the 1867. The park's two districts, one in Johnson City where the original Johnson settlement has been preserved and his boyhood home that his family moved into in 1913 when he was 5. Down the road about 14 miles to Stonewall the the LBJ Ranch, better known as the Texas White House. The boyhood home is restored to the 1920's, one crazy thing, the porch ceilings were painted baby blue to keep the wasps and other nasty bugs from nesting there, it seems they are fooled and think it's the sky. His father, a politician, was sort of wealthy, he bought the house for $3,000, todays money it would be more like $250,000. From the boyhood home you can walk to the Johnson settlement, about a mile and a half round trip. It is still a working ranch, the signs on the fences state "do not climb on the fence, longhorns are dangerous" OK. There are several buildings, the main house, a couple of barns one is cut stone built in 1884, a windmill, water tank and a cooler house, and a general store for the budding community.
The LBJ Ranch tours begin at the LBJ State Park, you first stop at the visitor center to get your free driving permit and a map or you can spend $20.00 for a CD narrative audio for the route. We chose the CD, the back stories made it far more interesting. The original driveway went through the Pedernales River and when the water was high the visiting dignitaries had to drive through the water, I can vaguely remember that. Johnson went to a one room located near his home, he started at age 4 because he was lonely and wanted to play with the other kids. Further down the road was his birthplace across the road is the Johnson Family Cemetery surrounded by a low rock wall. LBJ and Lady Bird Johnson are buried there alongside his ancestors. Since it is still a working ranch you drive through graze land where you can see the runway. At the airplane hangar you see his Air Force One, You can purchase an additional ticket for $3.00 for the Texas White House Tour. The house is cut stone, in front is a 500 year old live oak. The house and ranch he purchased from his aunt and was added onto several times increasing the square footage to 8400 feet with 28 rooms, 8 bedrooms and 9 1/2 baths and the acreage has grown to 2,800 acres. When he became president they added on an office. Over the years the Johnsons modernized the home but when they donated the property to the State Parks they took it back to the 50's. Our tour guide told us a story about the pecan pie on the stove, it seems when the Kennedy's were coming to Dallas they were going to stay at the ranch after their event. The cook baked a pecan pie because they'd heard Mrs. Kennedy had never eaten one before, well you know the pie went uneaten. The clock in the kitchen was stopped at the time Kennedy died. The Johnson's had separate bedrooms because he was always working even in bed so to get some sleep Mrs. Johnson moved into her own suite. The clothes hanging in the closets were their actual clothes. He loved being at the ranch and he spent about 1/3 of his presidency there. No photographing inside home per family's request.
Saturday, Nov. 1, We left Canyon Lake Recreation area about 9 to head for Rockport, the final destination in the first leg of this adventure. The drive was about 190 miles, we drove straight through arriving at Bayview RV Resort, getting the same space as last year, 4009 miles since we left Salem on Sept. 7th. We (Gary) drove through all secondary roads, as we got closer to the gulf coast, the land flattened out. It felt like we were "home." First thing we did was visit our favorite fish market and meat market. About 1:00 Bob and Sharon from St.Louis arrived in their new 44 ft Newmar coach. Oh my it is beautiful, we got the dime tour. We had a dinner of BBQ'd fresh grouper. Delish! Ducks won!
Sunday, Nov. 2 We started the day with a 3 mile walk down Fulton Beach Road, it was pretty warm but the breeze off the bay kept us comfortable. Since we did the walk we could go to the ice cream social they have here every sunday afternoon in the activity center. After, Bob and Sharon came over to our coach for the nickel tour. When we were in Deer Lodge Montana we toured a historic house and ranch, the ranger gave us a 100 yr old recipe for Mahogany Cake, she said it would taste like Red Velvet cake. So since tomorrow is my birthday I decided to make the cake. The trouble with old recipes is the cooks usually just write down the basic ingredients the rest they know how to put together. A bit of a challenge but it turned out okay. A cake mix would have been much easier. Seahawks won!
Monday ,Nov. 3 Happy Birthday to me! 67, how did that happen? We started the day with another 3 mile walk down the beach road, the humidity and heat sure make you sweat! Poor Luci comes back with her tongue hanging out. We went out to lunch at Allegro Bay restaurant in Rockport with Bob and Sharon, it was a little expensive but good. A group of about 10 older ladies came in, shortly after they sang the happy birthday song, I thought "how did they know" but it wasn't for me. As we were leaving I went over to the table to see who the birthday girl was. She (the other birthday girl) asked me how old I was, I told her 67 so I asked her how old she was, 80! I would never have guessed I thought she was about my age. The gulf coast humidity must be the secret to the fountain of youth. In the evening Bob and Sharon came over for cake and ice cream.
Tuesday, Nov. 4, Election day at last! We are so tired of political ads especially since "we didn't have a dog in the fight" they were annoying. I started the day getting a long overdue hair cut. Alexa, the salon owner cut my hair last year, a particularly scary event since I have had Georgie cut my hair for over 15 years. I didn't need to be so frightened, she did a good job. Anyway she was telling me that she and her family completely gutted the salon in March, putting down a new floor, putting in new stations and painted the whole salon in one week-end. In May one of her customers drove through the front of the salon, knocking her down but fortunately no one else was hurt. The lady hasn't been back. I decided to start a quilt, I'd bought a kit in Nebraska, all the pieces are precut with no room for error. Well of course the first piece I cut was wrong. I ran into the quilt shop in Rockport to find a replacement. No luck, I'll have to go to Corpus Christi. Like my Red Hat buddies tell me "measure twice cut once" I seem to get the order wrong. Arrrgggh! At 4 we went to happy hour at Robin's for a get together, a lot of the Winter Texans are starting to pull in. RJ and Gail, from all over but originally from Minnesnowta, came in. Gary and I, Bob and Sharon and RJ and Gail went to Pango's pizza after, had lots of laughs.
Wednesday, Nov. 5, I always think of Casey Comber on the fifth of November, she lived down the road from us and her birthday is Nov. 5, we always had joint birthday parties. Happy birthday Casey. I started the day off at Snap for a workout, I haven't been close to a Snap gym since Spokane. I'll probably be sore tomorrow. Sharon and I got pedicures today, they were half price! $11.00. I think it was the best one I've ever had. Wednesdays and Fridays at 4 are happy hours here at the park. Steve and Marty arrived from Michigan, I didn't recognize her, she grew her hair out and it's completely white, very pretty! Someday I'll------------nah. We have a few days of stormy weather forecast, up to a couple of inches of rain. The temps will still be in the high 60's though so it won't be cold.
TTFN,
Gary and Pam
LBJ's Boyhood home
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